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Blue whiting gets off to a slow start

All three of HB Grandi’s pelagic vessels are now fishing on blue whiting deep south of the Faroe Islands along with a number of other vessels. Fishing has started slowly, according to Albert Sveinsson, who is skipper of Ingunn AK for this trip, and by midday yesterday they had 1300 tonnes on board after roughly four days of fishing.

‘It hasn’t really taken off yet. The blue whiting are moving north as they search for feed but the number of boats fishing is such that it’s difficult to see just how much volume there is. At least, the bulk of the fish has yet to show itself,’ he said, commenting that as well as the Icelandic fishing vessels, a number of Faroese, Russians and Norwegians are also on the same fishing grounds.

When we spoke to Albert Sveinsson on Ingunn, Faxi RE and Lundey NS were both within 13-15 nautical miles. Lundey was hauling its gear and if the catch was anywhere near expectations, then that should be enough to fill its RSW tanks. Ingunn needs another 400-500 tonnes to complete its trip, and Albert Sveinsson said they would not be hauling until tonight.
‘These are very long tows on this fishery, sometimes we come close to towing around the clock. The blue whiting we have been fishing so far has been fine fish in good condition,’he said.